1979 - More than 40 people are killed in riots following a proposed increase in the price of rice.

Years of instability

Samuel Doe: Executed in 1990

1980 - Master Sergeant Samuel Doe stages military coup. Tolbert and more than 12 of his aides are killed. A People's Redemption Council headed by Doe suspends constitution and assumes full powers.

1984 - Doe's regime allows return of political parties following pressure from the United States and other creditors.

1985 - Doe wins presidential election.

Taylor's uprising

1989 - National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) led by Charles Taylor begins an uprising against the government.

C-160 Transall taking of from mine road

1990Operation Sharp Edge - In mid-1990 increasing internal unrest threatened U.S. diplomats and civilians in Liberia. Elements of a Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked in the USS Saipan (LHA-2) amphibious ready group provide support to the U.S. Embassy and stood by to evacuate American citizens and others from 2 June to 5 August. They evacuate a total of 2,609 people between 5 August and January 1991.

1990 - June 12th - The German AirForce Transport Wing 63 evacuates 231 oversees employees from the Bong Mining Company to Freetown.

1990 - Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) sends peacekeeping force. Doe is executed by a splinter group of the NPFL.

1991 - Ecowas and the NPFL agree to disarm and set up an Interim Government of National Unity.

1992 - The NPFL launches an all-out assault on West African peacekeepers in Monrovia, the latter respond by bombing NPFL positions outside the capital and pushing the NPFL back into the countryside.

Tentative cease-fire

Street Execution in Monrovia

1993 - The warring factions draw up a plan for a National Transitional Government and a cease-fire, but this fails to materialise and fighting resumes.

1994 - The warring factions agree on a timetable for disarmament and the setting up of a joint Council of State.

1997 July - Presidential and legislative elections held. Charles Taylor wins a landslide and his National Patriotic Party wins a majority of seats in the National Assembly. International observers declare the elections free and fair.

Border fighting

Many factions recruited children to fight

1999 January - Ghana and Nigeria accuse Liberia of supporting Revolutionary United Front rebels in Sierra Leone. Britain and the US threaten to suspend international aid to Liberia.

1999 April - Rebel forces thought to have crossed from Guinea attack the town of Voinjama. Subsequent fighting leads to the displacement of more than 25,000 people.

2001 8 February - Liberian government announces that Sierra Leonean rebel leader Sam Bockarie, also known as Mosquito, had left the country and that the rebels' liaison office had been closed.

2001 7 March - UN Security Council imposes tough measures against Liberia, accusing it of fomenting war in west Africa. The measures, which include a ban on diamond exports and restrictions on travel by Liberian officials, will not come into force for two months. The Security Council also re-imposed, with immediate effect, an arms embargo against Liberia which first came into effect during the country's civil war between 1989 and 1996.

2001 May - UN Security Council reimposes arms embargo to punish Taylor for trading weapons for diamonds from rebels in Sierra Leone.

2001 June - Some 40,000 people reportedly displaced by rebellion.

2001 October - Amnesty International accuses security forces of raping and beating protesters.

2001 November - Government forces embark on new offensive against rebels.

2002 January - More than 50,000 Liberians and Sierra Leonean refugees flee fighting.

2002 February - Liberian Defence Minister Daniel Chea says government forces fighting an unfair war against rebels in the north of the country and are unable to get new military supplies because of an international ban on selling weapons to the Liberian government.

2002 May - Monrovia residents panic at the sound of approaching gunfire, as fighting between the government and rebels creeps towards the capital.

2002 September - President Taylor lifts an eight-month state of emergency and a ban on political rallies, citing a reduced threat from rebels.

Rebel offensives

2003 March - Security situation deteriorates as rebels open several battlefronts and advance to within 10km of Monrovia. Tens of thousands of people displaced by fighting.

Charles Taylor in Arms

2003 April - New rebel group, Movement for Democracy in Liberia, makes gains in southeast.

2003 June - President Taylor attends talks in Ghana aimed at ending ongoing rebellion. Talks overshadowed by indictment accusing Mr Taylor of war crimes over his alleged backing of rebels in Sierra Leone. An arrest order is not heeded and Mr Taylor returns to Liberia.

Fighters from main rebel group - Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (Lurd) - sweep southward in an attempt to capture the capital, casting doubt on the Ghana peace talks.

2003 July - Fighting intensifies; rebels battle for control of Monrovia. Several hundred people are killed. West African regional group Ecowas agrees to provide peacekeepers.